Worship & Music | Worship at St Thomas's Hanwell

The Choir

Detail of Children's Chapel Annunciation Reredos

Ed Cooke Director of Music

Music is a vital part of our life at St Thomas. We have a flourishing choir with nearly 30 members, the Choir sings every Sunday morning and has members of all ages. In recent years the choir has gone from strength to strength under the leadership of our Directors of Music. We have recently appointed Ed Cooke, who comes from a strong choral background and read Choral Studies for his Master's at Cambridge. He also leads the Junior Choir at St Paul's, Winchmore Hill, and helps his father build organs.

While some are confident music readers, others learn by rote; but what we all have in common is a desire to sing to the best of our ability to the glory of God. Our repertoire extends from the Tudor music of the early Anglican church right up to the 21st century: a typical month might find us singing works by Tallis, Mendelssohn, Wesley and Malcolm Archer. We always sing one major work each year at Easter time: recently we have sung Requiems by Rutter and Faure, Stainer's The Crucifixion and Karl Jenkins' Armed Man Mass. Our traditional Lessons and Carols at Christmas is another highlight of our musical year, and we sing occasional Choral Evensongs too. We rehearse on Fridays from 7-8.30 in the church. Do contact us if you'd like more information, or even if you'd like to join. There's always room for one more.

The three-manual Walker church organ was partially restored by Noterman and Sons as part of our most recent church renovation programme.